Detail in Glaskowky’s item: He talks about publishers protecting their e-wares in anticipation of the day when e-book gizmos will cost just $50. Hey, Peter, that’s already the cost of the Sony Reader under the current credit card offer. Could Draconian DRM, so dear to copyright zealots, be among the reasons why the Reader is just a nice little niche item? I’m against theft, too. But DRM is a much bigger threat to e-bookdom than the actual pirates. Maybe the SFWA needs a new committee—to weigh the pros and cons of “protection,” which horrendously penalizes legal buyers. They can’t even use their purchases on all their e-book-capable machines.
“Draconian DRM”? Somehow no one seems to apply this term to iTunes/iPod, which have a limit of 5 devices per account compared to Reader’s 6. Also, Reader reads other common file formats besides encrypted BBeB, so I don’t really see a need to mention DRM at all.
Igorsk re Sony DRM: Thanks for your thoughts, but I’d respectfully disagree–when we consider the Sony’s DRM in context.
My iPod is small and can go with me everywhere and plug into a variety of speaker systems/radios, so the DRM seems less strict. The Sony is larger.
Also, while there are different kinds of iPods, there is only one model of the Reader. Why would people want more units? At $300 they’re expensive enough.
What’s more, other DRM-infested reading systems will run on a variety of machines. Although the Sony will work on a PC, the interface is way behind, say, Mobiopocket’s.
The other thing is that there are not that many books in the BBeB format compared to Mobi, and that makes the DRM seem all the more onerous. Talk about customer lock-in!
I suppose you could convert from other formats, including the DRMed ones favored by big publishers, but here in the U.S., at least, breaking encryption is illegal.
And furthermore, Apple’s DRM *is* draconian; it’s why I don’t buy DRM-ed tracks from iTunes anymore (a couple years since I last purchased from iTunes). I use the iTunes store to preview music, then buy the CD… Now that they have some non-DRMed tracks, I’ve considered buying those, but it’s still a compressed format; I might consider it for a single track where I really don’t like anything else on the album, but otherwise, get the CD & rip to flac.
One reason you find relatively few complaints about Apple’s DRM is that, generally speaking, it is easy to use; your iPod/iTunes doesn’t need to dial home every time you play a song, moving content to an iPod is transparent, you can burn to a CD, etc. I don’t think the DRM for Sony Reader’s commercial content is nearly as flexible.
How do you figure that the $50 price with credit-card signup is the same thing as a $50 free-market price?
Do you believe toasters are free because some banks give them away when you open a savings account?
Get real. The Sony Reader is a $200+ device, and it isn’t even technically good enough to be a mass-market e-book reader. We are still years away from having the combination of technical quality and low price I believe is essential to the ultimate success of the e-book market.
Peter re Sony cost: Thanks for the feedback. Actually, other than the cost of a customer’s time, we’re talking about a $50 offer. I’ve heard that you don’t have to use the card to buy things. And supposedly you can cancel after a short period. If there were major hassles in backing out, you can bet our readers would have spoken up. I certainly agree that price and quality in general need to improve, but as Claire Israel just wrote, it’s good to experiment. Thanks and I hope you’ll stick around the TeleBlog. David
"D2C will stand little chance against the ease of a megastore (for customers) until contract clauses that ban authors/publishers from selling their ebooks for less ..."
Repros of Cory Doctorow‘s works and others were targets of DMCA take-down efforts by the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America—even though Cory and certain other writers wanted their works online at sites such as Scribd.
Previous
SUBSCRIBE TO RSS
Comments:
“Draconian DRM”? Somehow no one seems to apply this term to iTunes/iPod, which have a limit of 5 devices per account compared to Reader’s 6. Also, Reader reads other common file formats besides encrypted BBeB, so I don’t really see a need to mention DRM at all.
Igorsk re Sony DRM: Thanks for your thoughts, but I’d respectfully disagree–when we consider the Sony’s DRM in context.
My iPod is small and can go with me everywhere and plug into a variety of speaker systems/radios, so the DRM seems less strict. The Sony is larger.
Also, while there are different kinds of iPods, there is only one model of the Reader. Why would people want more units? At $300 they’re expensive enough.
What’s more, other DRM-infested reading systems will run on a variety of machines. Although the Sony will work on a PC, the interface is way behind, say, Mobiopocket’s.
The other thing is that there are not that many books in the BBeB format compared to Mobi, and that makes the DRM seem all the more onerous. Talk about customer lock-in!
I suppose you could convert from other formats, including the DRMed ones favored by big publishers, but here in the U.S., at least, breaking encryption is illegal.
Thanks,
David
And furthermore, Apple’s DRM *is* draconian; it’s why I don’t buy DRM-ed tracks from iTunes anymore (a couple years since I last purchased from iTunes). I use the iTunes store to preview music, then buy the CD… Now that they have some non-DRMed tracks, I’ve considered buying those, but it’s still a compressed format; I might consider it for a single track where I really don’t like anything else on the album, but otherwise, get the CD & rip to flac.
One reason you find relatively few complaints about Apple’s DRM is that, generally speaking, it is easy to use; your iPod/iTunes doesn’t need to dial home every time you play a song, moving content to an iPod is transparent, you can burn to a CD, etc. I don’t think the DRM for Sony Reader’s commercial content is nearly as flexible.
Hey David,
How do you figure that the $50 price with credit-card signup is the same thing as a $50 free-market price?
Do you believe toasters are free because some banks give them away when you open a savings account?
Get real. The Sony Reader is a $200+ device, and it isn’t even technically good enough to be a mass-market e-book reader. We are still years away from having the combination of technical quality and low price I believe is essential to the ultimate success of the e-book market.
Just as I said originally.
. png
Peter re Sony cost: Thanks for the feedback. Actually, other than the cost of a customer’s time, we’re talking about a $50 offer. I’ve heard that you don’t have to use the card to buy things. And supposedly you can cancel after a short period. If there were major hassles in backing out, you can bet our readers would have spoken up. I certainly agree that price and quality in general need to improve, but as Claire Israel just wrote, it’s good to experiment. Thanks and I hope you’ll stick around the TeleBlog. David